TA - 170 Infrastructure Spt Engr Group

170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group (170 (Infra Sp) Engr Gp) was formed in 2005 following the amalgamation of the Regular and Territorial Army (TA) elements of Military Works Force (MWF). The unit is administered centrally in Nottingham but training can be carried out at a variety of locations.

Regulars and TA work and train together and cover the full spectrum of military and civilian infrastructure support including:

Expeditionary camps - Railways - Ports - Fuel - Water - Power generation and distribution and other utilities - Airfield and geotechnical support

Group Structure The Engineer Group consists of a Headquarters and five Works Groups. Each Works Group, in addition to providing a works and military infrastructure capability specialises in a particular area:

  • 62 Wks Gp RE - Water Utilities - water development and well drilling
  • 63 Wks Gp RE - Electrical power - generation and distribution
  • 64 Wks Gp RE - Fuel - fuel production and distribution
  • 65 Wks Gp RE - Civilian infrastructure - railway and ports infrastructure
  • 66 Wks Gp RE - Air Support and geotechnical engineering

Civilian Infrastructure Expertise Within all Works Groups, the expertise in civilian infrastructure and utilities is provided by TA teams with individuals with relevant civilian knowledge, qualifications and experience, be they tradesmen, technicians, designers or professional engineers.

Applicants for the TA Component are expected to have a qualification in a branch of engineering and are likely to be working in a civilian job requiring skills that are transferable to a suitable role in the TA Component.

Operations The Regular Component of 170 (Infra Sp) Engr Gp has a permanent presence whenever the Armed Forces are deployed on operations, our TA soldiers deploy and work alongside our Regular soldiers and in recent years they have deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

 

Had this message about 170 from Andy Pearce February 2013 - 66 Wks gp were added in 2008/9, 67 Wks Gp in 2010/11 and the HQ/Sp elements were grouped centrally and re-titled 43 HQ & Sp Sqn in Oct 12. 67 Wks Gp will dis-band as part of the Army 2020 re-structure by the end of 2013.

Their web-site is at: http://www.army.mod.uk/royalengineers/units/28733.aspx

170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group has been going from strength to strength since coming into being in April 2005 and continues to be at the forefront of infrastructure delivery on operations. Its renaming from Military Works Force completed the transition to an operationally focused organisation whose Works Groups have maintained a 12 month tour interval throughout.


The Group's remit is to deliver infrastructure engineering support to deployed joint task forces. This support ranges from theatre-entry expeditionary infrastructure through to maintenance and decommissioning. Since closing the Iraq estate the main focus has been Afghanistan providing the military estate from initial entry (physically building the Temporary Deployable Accommodation for Prelim Operations to deploy into in 2005) through to ongoing development and running of the estate from Main Operating Bases to Tactical Bases.

The Group was responsible for the design, construction and continued development of Camp Bastion and the Forward Operating Bases and has oversight of the contract to maintain all the military facilities throughout Afghanistan.

Since 2009 it has been additionally responsible for all construction undertaken by the Provisional Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province, steadily improving the capabilities and competencies of local Afghan contractors. The Group deploys elements worldwide in its role as a design consultancy for the rest of the Corps and wider Defence community.

It also provides essential design support to ongoing Joint Force Enabling Exercises in a variety of demanding locations in order to train and practice other elements of the Corps in Force Support Engineering.

The prime building block for operational deployments is the Works Group that consists of a Headquarters and two Specialist Team Royal Engineers (Works). The Works Group, once deployed, can call forward in-depth expertise from teams that specialize in materials testing, water development, power infrastructure, bulk petroleum and force protection engineering and has call on unique territorial skills in ports and railways infrastructure.